


None Of That, Babygirl

by Marmarhargreeves



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Gen, Good Brother Diego Hargreeves, Good Sister Allison Hargreeves, Hurt/Comfort, Lisp, Speech impediment, good uncle diego hargreeves, listen this prompt was rly sweet i had a lot of fun writing this!!, stutter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-16
Updated: 2019-03-16
Packaged: 2019-11-20 20:50:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18131951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marmarhargreeves/pseuds/Marmarhargreeves
Summary: Allison hated watching her angel battle with herself. She knew the perfect person who could help like she couldn’t.





	None Of That, Babygirl

**Author's Note:**

> This is for the lovely JJ who commented abt this HC they had - so cute!!! I had a lot of fun writing this. I’m rly glad I could help ppl in any way whatsoever :’) I hope this suffices !

Allison smiled softly at the angel below her, running her hands through her hair. Even though Claire was 11 now, already at her shoulder mind you, she’s still her baby. She relished the time they had together, her family being the most important thing in her life.

It had been seven years since they avoided the end of the world. Seven long, wonderful years that she enjoyed every minute of. She had lived with her family for two of them back in that large house before moving back to California to be with her daughter. They needed time to recover. Not just from the apocalypse, but they needed time to actually recover as a family. Luther started to attend therapy, the other siblings following suit. They all saw different people since each of their own respective traumas were different. Allison had gone with Luther for a few sessions as they worked out whatever it was between them. Ultimately they decided they were family; they were not lovers. It was healthier for everyone that way.

Her and Patrick never rekindled their marriage however she ended up getting custody all on her own, no powers needed. She needed to go therapy and counseling herself for over a year, court orders. She happily obliged. She’d do anything for her baby girl. Patrick ultimately gave up trying. He loved his daughter but he loved his fame more.

“M-mom?” Claire stirred, blinking lazily up at her mother's smiling face. 

“Did I wake you? I’m sorry baby.” Allison ran her hand down her cheek, cupping her face in her hand. 

“Kinda.” She shook her head, “I didn’t mean to faw asweep.” Claire scrunched her face at her pronunciation as she usually did these days.

Allison’s features softened as she leaned down to kiss her daughters temple. Claire had developed a lisp as she got older. It started off small at first, just having trouble with ‘er’. With help from Allison, she was able to overcome it. However that didn’t last long; her lisp only got worse after that. Claire had just gotten home from another intense speech therapy session which usually wiped her out for a good hour or two.

“None of that, Claire Bear.” She tapped her nose. 

“I think I wanna sweep more if das okay?” 

Allison nodded and gave her a little hum of approval. She slowly got herself off the bed to give her daughter some privacy, stopping at the door.

“I’ll wake you up when dinner is ready, okay?” 

“Thanks mom...” Claire yawned, drowsiness coating her voice. 

Allison quietly closed the door and made her way downstairs. She was frustrated for her daughter. She always has seen her baby girl as the most perfect being alive. Speech or not. She wished her daughter was kinder to herself, it broke her heart seeing Claire beat herself over something like this.

She couldn’t help but think of her brother when she saw Claire struggling. She remembers the days when Diego wouldn’t speak at all, scared of what would come out of him. He had sometimes gone weeks without uttering a single word, ashamed of his speech patterns that were not his fault even if Reginald insisted it was. She remembers hearing her brother repeat the same line over and over in front of the mirror, the frustrated groans and sometimes the sound of books being thrown. She didn’t want her baby to feel anything like that. 

Diego’s stutter had resurfaced after the apocalypse. The trauma of losing Patch and then potentially losing everyone he loved in a span of just a few days took a lot out of him. Just like it did everyone. At first, Diego was frustrated with himself. He felt like he was 12 again, reduced to nothing but fragmented sentences. He spent months in front of the mirror just like he did when he was young, desperately trying to ‘fix’ himself. His family tried to help him of course. Whether it be helping him with his speech or giving him a shoulder to cry on. It broke all of their hearts seeing their brother battling so harshly with himself. But with years of therapy (not speech therapy), he was able to accept that this was part of him now. He went back to the police academy, graduated, and became a cop. One of the best, stutter and all. 

She pulled out her phone and scrolled through her contacts until she landed on “Knife Boy”. She scoffed to herself at the nickname. Klaus had confiscated her phone and insisted on changing all of the sibling contacts to silly little names. She had pretended to be annoyed but he knew she loved it.

She pressed the name, listening to the ringing for about five seconds before Diego picked up. 

“Hey s-sis!” She heard her brothers voice, cheerier than it ever used to be.

“Hey bro. I was um,” Allison bit her lip, not wanting to offend her brother and trying to figure out what she was actually trying to ask, “I was wondering if you’d be able to come to California sometime? I know you’ve been super busy with work, so I understand if you can’t!” She waved her hands as if he could see her.

“Claire’s speech, uh as you know she has a lisp. She’s been going to speech therapy twice a week and she’s just really discouraged. It has been causing her a lot of, well,” Her voice softened, “pain. It would mean a lot if you could maybe talk to her? I can only do so much, you know? I can’t relate to her like you could...If you’re not comfortable I get it! She just adores you a lot. This is a lot to ask and-”

“Allison,” Diego cut his sister off, “of c-c-course. I’d love-I’d love to come over. I love that little squ-squirt.” She could hear the grin in his voice.

“Thank you so much, Diego! Really, truly. Send me whenever you’re free and I’ll book the flight!”

“Sounds go-sounds good! I’ll see you g-guys soon. Love you.” 

“Love you too.”

Allison booked a flight for Diego that weekend. She decided on not telling Claire. She wants it to be a surprise - she hasn’t seen her uncle in over a year. She couldn’t wait for her to see Diego. She needed this little pick me up. 

A week later Allison was driving up to the pick up area of the airport. She scanned the crowd for her brother, quickly finding the dark haired man wearing his signature all black outfit- minus the kinky harness now. She thanks the police academy dearly for that. 

He quickly jogs to her car with his suitcase in tow. He opens the door with a huge grin on his face which she matches. 

“M-miss-missed you.” Diego wraps his arms around his sister the best he could manage with them both sitting in the front seat. 

Allison rubbed her brothers back giggling,   
“Missed you too, dummy. Claire will be out of school soon and your the special surprise.” She pulled away and ruffled his perfectly styled hair causing a middle finger to her face. 

“Yeah okay, get all that out now before you we get to school, fuckhead.” She stuck her tongue out and backed out of the lot. 

“So her sp-speech therapy isn’t hel-helping?” Diego started the conversation, turning to face Allison. 

Allison sighed, nodding, “It hurts seeing her get so upset at herself. It reminds me of, well,” she glanced over at her brother, “You.” She finished softly. 

Diego swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing, “I kn-know how pain-p-painful feeling like your b-body is betraying you c-can be.” He ran his hand over his face. He’s learned the skills the Hargreeves lacked for so long long, to be able to actually communicate these things, over the years. But that didn’t make it an easier to do, “it can f-feel scary a-and isolating, y-ya know? B-but Cl-Claire has the best mom. She’s g-gonna get through this.”

Allison smiled at her brother, “and she has the best uncle.”

“Don’t you for-forget it baby!”

The rest of the drive went by quickly, their talk filling the time. They chatted about how Diego’s work was going. AKA the man ranting about the long hours and lack of sleep he’d been getting. This weekend was much needed for all parties. 

They arrived at Claire’s school and the two watched the influx of kids squirming out of the building as fast as they could. Eventually Diego saw the not so little girl making her way to the car. He watched as her face lit up at the sight of him. 

“UNCEW DIEGO!” Claire exclaimed now running towards the car at full speed. Diego quickly got out of the car and met the girl half way, picking her up in his arms and hugging her tight. 

“W-what is your mom feed-feeding you? You’re at-at least a f-foot taller!” Diego placed the giggling girl down. 

“Mom has been making awot of gween bean casewole!” Diego watched Claire’s face scrunch ever so slightly, tightening her grip on her backpack straps. 

“Th-that’ll do it!” Diego winked, but not missing the flash of disappointment he saw, “lets not k-keep your mom waiting.” 

He laced his arm through Claire’s, listening to her talk absentmindedly about her day as they walked back to Allison’s car. 

“Well hello dear daughter of mine.” Allison turned to the back seat as soon as Claire climbed in. She raised her eyebrows expectantly,   
“I know you haven’t seen your uncle Diego in a while but where’s my love, huh?” She pulled her fake puppy dog eyes at her daughter. 

Claire rolled her eyes at her mother’s drama, “Definitely Allison’s daughter” Diego thought, and leaned forward to place a kiss on her moms cheek. 

“Much better.” Allison grinned before turning around and starting the car. 

“So I thought we could all go get frozen yogurt instead of speech therapy today. How does that sound, babe?” Allison made eye contact with Claire through rear view mirror. She witnessed the pure joy spread across her little girls face. 

“MOM!!! You aw the best!” Claire leaned forward and placed her hands on her moms shoulders and gave them a light squeeze. 

“Don’t you forget it, babe.” She winked and placed a hand on top of Claire’s. Allison was already pulling into the parking lot, quickly taking her hand away to achieve the maneuver. 

The trio made their way out of the car, Claire buzzing with absolute excitement. Allison’s heart swelled; she hasn’t seen her daughter this happy in a while. 

“Welcome to Yogurtland.” A less than enthusiastic maybe 16 year old said to the upon entering. 

“W-what kind do you-you usually get?” Diego asked Claire who was practically across the store at this point. 

“Watch and be amazed, Uncew Diego.” Claire spoke seriously for a moment, grabbing a cup. 

She strategically walked over to the chocolate flavor, then cookies and cream, then peanut butter, cheesecake, and even pistachio. The colors quickly filled her cup and she topped it all off with strawberries and peanuts. Once satisfied with her mountain she turned around to face her family. 

“And that is how you eat fwozen yogut.” The kid held her massive, albeit impressive bowl with a hand in her hip and a smirk on her face. 

“M-mas-master C-Claire,” Diego walked up to the young girl, “teach me your w-ways.”

Allison stayed silent and watched the two interact, a smile never leaving her face. She knew this would be good for Claire. Diego was always so good with her. Always patient and kind. Diego had always been one of the softest of the Hargreeves, following Ben and Vanya. He may admit it now, but he absolutely never would before. 

Allison and Diego made their bowls, Diegos being frighteningly similar to Claire’s, and walked over to a table.  
“So why aw you hewe?” Claire spoke up, her mouth half full with her sugary dessert. 

“Well squ-squirt,” Diego glanced over at Allison, silently asking if it was okay to explain. She nodded for him to go on, “your mom to-told me you’re ha-having trouble in sp-sp-spee,” he paused slightly trying to regain his thought. This was harder than he expected, “speech th-therapy.” 

Claire’s face immediately flushed and she started to panic, thinking her family was there to lecture her, “I’m twying! I pwomise I-I am! My voice is just so STUPID I can’t-“ Diego and Allison watched as her eyes started to brim with tears. 

Allison wrapped her arm around her shoulder, kissing the top of her head to shush Claire’s train of thought.   
“No, no baby we’re not upset. Not at all. I am so proud of you, okay?” She pulled away and swiped away her daughters tears with her thumb. Claire’s lip was still trembling as she nodded. 

Diego reached across the table and took her hand, “L-listen to me babygirl, okay?” He gave it a squeeze, “you a-and your voi-voice are p-perfect. Just the w-way you are now. I-I’m proud of you f-for going to sp-speech therapy. I w-went for h-half of my childhood, did you kn-know that?” Claire shook her head. 

“Well I d-did. I eventually ‘g-got better’,” Diego did are quotes with his free hand, “but I-I remember how f-frustrating this used to f-feel. I used to b-b-beat myself up everyd-everyday over something th-that wasn’t my f-fault. Your sp-speech does not define you. I-in any way, okay princess?” 

Diego’s eyes were starting to burn as he felt his own eyes getting wet. He saw so much of his old pain in her and he didn’t want her to ever experience that. No child should. 

“I wuv you.” Claire silently got up, breaking Allison’s hold, and gave Diego a big bear hug. She held on tight, sniffling into his chest. 

“I love y-you too Claire B-Bear. No m-more tears, okay?” Diego wiped his own that were threatening to fall, laughing softly. 

Claire nodded and slowly broke the hug. She reached up and kissed her uncles cheek. She stole one of Diegos cherries and plopped it in her mouth before going back to her seat. 

Claire went back to happily chatting about school, her mouth full of yogurt and a smile on her face.

Allison mouthed ‘thank you’ at Diego, her own eyes still wet. She loved her brother, her family. After all the years of no communication, fighting, arguing, resentment, it was all worth it for them to be where they are today. 

Diego simply nodded and took Allison’s hand before shifting his attention back to Claire, making sure her stories were being heard. This family would be okay.


End file.
